Module Overview

Negotiation is the art and science of securing agreements between parties who are interdependent and who are seeking to maximise their outcomes. The central issues of this negotiation training course deal with understanding the behaviour of negotiators in the context of competitive situations across the different phases of the negotiation engagement.

The primary focus will be on how to practically navigate several categories of negotiation obstacles, including behavioural challenges, emotional obstacles, cognitive biases and structural challenges – such as dealing with power asymmetries, value creation/claiming dilemmas, saving face issues, etc.

Participants will be presented with practical simulations that they will be asked to prepare at home before class with their classmates, in pairs or in teams and finally to debrief with the entire group. Considerable emphasis will be placed on these simulations, role playing and cases.

Learning Outcomes

Identify the different debating, proposing and listening styles to achieve successful negotiation outcomes.

Learn how to explore the interests of the other party, invent creative options for mutual gain, while simultaneously evaluating the costs and benefits of same

Improve one’s ability to analyse the behaviour and motives of negotiators in settings that have both competitive and cooperative elements

Use active listening skills & appreciative moves to shed light on the other party’s interests.

Create value in multi-issue integrative negotiations by trading on different priorities to craft a package that overcomes the obstacles that arise when dealing with each issue separately.

Trade across different issues and deal efficiently with tensions, differences and conflicts.

Programme Content & Sequence of Elements

Negotiating Style Training
In this session, we will explore the different behaviours defining one’s approach to negotiations and participants will individually complete a questionnaire to help them identify their own preferred style.

Multi-Step Behavioural ModelOne’s behavioural style critically determines how one chooses to lead and respond to the each of the 4-phases of the negotiation process: how one prepares, debates, proposes & bargains.

Active Listening TrainingActive listening, paraphrasing, questioning and body language are just a few of the tools that we can use to unveil the opposing party’s interests. We will look at all of these concepts in detail through lectures and role plays.

ProposingUltimately the exploration & debate phase has to be translated into output proposals. We will look at the give & take dynamic involved and establish some important rules for making and responding to proposals.

Handling the Negotiation DilemmaWe will explore how to manage the tension between creating and claiming value and practice techniques on how to control the repercussions when parties are misaligned: a) how your value creation approach must be calibrated to the degree to which the other party is biased to creating or claiming (value); b) how to move away from mutually destructive claiming tactics.

Signalling To Assist MovementWe will explore the language of signalling & trial balloons, where protagonists utilise subtle changes in language to loosen the strictures of a positional dispute, shifting their message from absolute to nuanced to break a deadlock without losing face.

Trading Across Issues to Establish an Agreeable PackageWe will examine the concept of the pareto-optimal agreement and illustrate how trading less important interests for more important interests is critical to achieving maximum mutual gain.

Negotiation Simulations TrainingParticipants will partake in a two-party negotiation simulation that pointedly illustrates:
a) the need to identify and integrate the interests of the other side into the bargaining process
b) the advantages of anchoring results to objective criteria
c) the repercussions of non-verbal communication and mis-communication